The Smoke Before the Fire
by WistfulGallifreyan
Summary: Will begins to wonder if it would be worthwhile to divulge his secrets to Hannibal, as he is taken by the apparent enigma he presents, and he comes to a subconscious realization about the nature of doctor Lecter.


"William Graham?" His thoughts were interrupted as the receptionist called his name.

"Oh yeah, That's me, Sorry" He told her getting to his feet. He was in the the hospital the secretary had just called his name for the third time while he had been lost in his thoughts. He was the only one in the waiting room.

"He's accepting visitors now. Right this way." The receptionist smiled at him and led the way down the dimly lit corridor. She walked unusually slow, perhaps she was tired or in pain, regardless Will found himself impatient.

The hospital rooms on either side of the hall had large glass windows, most were dark and empty or the blinds were pulled shut. It was almost eerie. As he passed each of the rooms he would try to see in through the slits between the vertical blinds but no no avail.

"Here we are." Her voice startled him again and she walked a few paces ahead turning her back to him. Will assumed she was writing on the clipboard she carried. He could obliquely see one a rectangular square of light, the blinds on this room were open.

He studied the dim radiance that poured from the patient room spilling into the darker hallway, and he approached it. This time walking slowly of his own accord he was flooded with a sudden apprehension, and felt a cold sweat break out over neck and back. As he approached he saw nothing unusual except the bed was filled with what he thought was a black blanket. He relaxed.

The room was quiet and he walked in, the smell of the powerful cleaning chemicals and sterile plastic hit him. As Will approached the bed he realized it wasn't a blanket. It was a ethereal and emphatic patch of darkness. He longed to touch it,was filled with a craving that he couldn't deny.

He reached out a hand and his fingers came in contact with what felt like downy hair he stroked it absentmindedly enjoying the feel of silk over his fingers. Looking again he realized his hands were swimming in a pile of fine black feathers. The feeling of calm was quickly overtaken by the feeling of imminent threat, and he felt exposed being in the center of such a bare room. He no longer felt he was alone.

As soon as the thought rose to his mind his hand found something solid beneath the feathers. He felt his way along the mass, it was familiar... Just then the feathers seemed to melt into dust that settled cleanly on the floor surrounding the bed and he got a full sight of what he was feeling.

It was doctor Lecter. Confusion and concern was replaced with terror as he realized that he had his hands in the doctor's open chest, fingers sunk deep into his soft lung tissue. He opened his eyes and said a single word that left him bewildered.

Will withdrew his hands and turned to run, but caught a glimpse of his own profile in the hospital mirror and stopped. A portion of his skull and flesh behind his ear had been removed and he could see the vessel threaded and moist white of his dura mater, and felt his stomach sink. His eyes widened and a convulsive chill ran through him. As lifted one of his hands still crimson with Hannibal's blood to his head, and a shout broke from his lips.

* * *

Sitting up and gasping for breath, his heart pounding in his chest and his shirt soaked with sweat, he had the unsettling feeling that he didn't know where he was.

"William. Are you alright? Nightmare about Hobbs?" They were in doctor Lecter's office, he must've fallen asleep when the doctor stepped out to make a phone call. Will sat up and ran his hands through his hair, taking a moment to compose himself, willing his hands to stop shaking and his pulse to slow.

"I'm fine, and not exactly." He shook his head, meeting the the doctor's gaze.

"A dream about something else then?" he asked, the characteristic composure on his face, the calculated intelligence that seemed to burn in the older man's eyes just beneath the surface. To Will he was still something an enigma, more than a few times he acted in ways that had perplexed Will, he found himself constantly having to alter his perception of the doctor. There were not many people that could hold that sort of interest for Will. He found he was staring at the buttoned up suit jacket of Hannibal's coat, imagining the organs beneath.

"A dream about you." Will was surprised by his own words.

"About me?" Hannibal returned, his dark eyes searching Will's face. His hair unkempt and damp, his brow slightly furrowed, revealing that he was still tense and bewildered by the contents of his nightmare. "And what transpired in this dream?"

"We-" He corrected feeling almost embarrassed to be telling of his dream. "I was in the hospital, alone in a waiting room when my thoughts were interrupted by a nurse." The young man paused trying to recall the details that were already slipping from his memory.

"Thoughts about what?"

"I don't remember, anyways there was a receptionist or a nurse who lead me down this long hallway. Windows on either side but I couldn't see into any of the rooms. She was walking far too slowly." At this Hannibal gave a small amused smile and a nod for Will to continue.

"We arrived at a room I got nervous as I approached, but the room seemed empty."

"Looks are always deceiving" Doctor Lecter mused quietly.

"There was something dark on the bed, at first I thought it was just a blanket. I approached and touched it and it turned out to be a pile of black feathers." Hannibal hummed softly to himself at this, and Will gave him a questioning look.

"Continue"

"Right, so I reached into the feathers and was very relaxed, but the atmosphere changed again. I no longer felt I was alone. At about the same moment my fingers met something solid amidst the feathers.

"And the moment I recognized it to be a person the feathers fell to dust and I found my hand immersed in your open chest." He stopped to take a breathe and gauge Hannibal's reaction, careful to leave out the fleeting concern that flooded over him in the dream. "I was overtaken for a moment and then you opened your eyes and said something..."

"You don't remember what?" Hannibal prompted.

"No, I know it was one word. I turned to flee, and saw my reflection. My skull was open" Here he said raising a hand and tracing a shape behind his ear where he had seen the wound. "Then I woke up."

"And that's all?"

"That's all I can remember."

"Did you know," Hannibal was looking into Will's eyes, a smile in his own, his calmness remained, and Will almost thought he saw a concern there. "That in many cultures black feathers are symbols of mystical wisdom and intuition."

"I didn't" Will replied, his mind on the older man again. A part of Will found himself drawn to the mystery he presented. But he was weary too, Lecter had already proved to be clever and incredibly gifted at psychological profiling and well as manipulation.

Then again, he was one of the few who seemed to understand some of the darkness that Will found within himself. It was terrifying and stressful and he hated himself for it. It terrified and repulsed him. At it's worst, it made him crave oblivion. A part of him was tempted to share. Most of his life he had been haunted by loneliness, his empathy did nothing but isolate him further, and this glaring contradiction destroyed him. He didn't know if he could bear to go further alone.

"What are you thinking about?" Hannibal asked and he took Will's hands in his own.

At first Will pulled away, shocked by the contact. But Hannibal held fast, and his hands were cool against his which were still warm with the terror of his nightmare. So he relaxed, just enjoying having another person near.

"Just life."

"Life is a broad topic" Hannibal remarked with a soft laugh, his finger moving imperceptibly to rest his thumb over Will's pulse.

"About empathy."

"Your personal plague."

"Yes." Will nodded, Hannibal knew a lot about him, either directly or through deduction but it was all the same. He knew a lot. "It's strange how empathy could isolate one even further from the rest of humanity."

"That indeed is one of life's many incongruities" Hannibal said, "What do you think the meaning of the dream is?" Hannibal asked.

"That we're trying to figure one another out. That I'm looking for your heart, for emotion. While you're looking for my mind, for rationality." Will also thought the hospital represented a place where people go to die or recover. But he was a visitor, and a hospital was also a place where under the pressure of time or fear of loss you discovered how much you cared for someone, where you put aside pretenses and adopted honesty.

"It is a strange and classic duality that has converged between us." Hannibal said, leaning back and giving Will's hands a light squeeze before letting go.

"Would you care for some lunch, I have leftovers from last night. A delectable meal of beef Wellington, unless you'd prefer humans" It took Will's mind a moment to catch up with him.

"Humans?" Will said and recollection struck him, he felt the color drain from his face.

"Humans? No? I said hummus a lovely chickpea dip, though I would recommend the Beef Wellington, the meat is the finest you can get. It is extraordinarily tender."

"Yes that sound's excellent,"

"You look pale. Is something wrong."

"It's the word you said in my dream, I thought I heard it again."

"And what word would that be?" Lecter inquired.

"Humans."

* * *

Hannibal froze, but he couldn't let Will see his hesitation, so he laughed it off and continued to prepare the small table in his office for the meal. Even if he didn't know it yet, subconsciously Will was becoming aware of who he was. Putting aside his own concerns, Hannibal was silently impressed.

Will Graham really did have an extraordinary mind. A brilliant and dark and clever and broken mind. He would finally have a real challenge and might even enjoy the games that were to come. At last having a worthy opponent. He paused, while his back was turned to young Will. A mischievous smile played across his lips.

* * *

_Alright this is just a oneshot, but an idea that came to my head and demanded to be written. I love the complexity of the relationships in all of the characters and look forward to seeing how it all unfolds._

_Thank you for reading, and if you would like to leave a review-or any sort of question or suggestion- I would appreciate it immensely, so please don't hesitate!_


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